The Scarecrow (2000 film)
| runtime = 81 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = | gross = }}The Scarecrow is a 2000 animated musical fantasy film, directed by Brian Nissen and Richard Rich, written by James Cameron, Roger Allers, Chris Sanders, Philip LaZebnik and David Reynolds and based on the Nathaniel Hawthorne short story "Feathertop" and the Percy MacKaye play The Scarecrow. It features the voices of Matthew McConaughey, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Val Kilmer, Kathy Najimy, David Spade, Martin Landau and Chris Sanders. Plot The film opens with an elderly woman named Ms.Bee Bee, who reveals herself to be a kindly witch, telling the audience about the town of Grisham Heights, owned by the selfish and dance obsessed Count Grisham. She explains that she was Grisham's dance teacher, until he chased her into hiding when he accidentally discovered that she was a witch, and was forced to live in an abandoned house far outside of the village, with only her magic broom Bristles for company. She then goes on to explain the town's workhouse mill, which is where all orphans and debtors are sent to work off their debts, and that it takes thirteen pieces of silver to buy your freedom. Ms.Bee Bee then introduces the audience to Polly, a girl who has been in the mill nearly her whole life, but has been saving her silver coins and hiding them at the foot of her scarecrow (without realizing that Ms.Bee Bee lives at the house). Because she is lonely, Ms.Bee Bee decides to bring her scarecrow to life after Polly leaves, using a magic feather to do so, which also allows a pessimistic mouse, Max, who lives in the Scarecrow's pocket, to talk. As the years pass, Scarecrow begins to fall in love with Polly after her constant visits. It's shown by Ms.Bee Bee that Polly earned her required amount a long time ago, but decided to stay when three young orphans arrived, and wished to help them so they could leave together. Seeing that Scarecrow is in love with Polly, and worried she'll be discovered and chased away again, Ms.Bee Bee leaves the village, telling Scarecrow that she will miss him and teaches him how to dance. Scarecrow is saddened, but determined to find a way to be with Polly and watch over her money until she is able to free herself and the children. Meanwhile, Count Grisham wants Polly to be his, and constantly attempts to woo her with promises of giving her and the children a good life and home, though Polly is able to see right through his selfish act and continuously turns him down. On the day she earns the last silver coin they need, Grisham finds out and sends the workhouse mill overseer, Cheswick, to find Polly's silver. Cheswick follows Polly to the old garden, and digs up her money after she leaves, but Scarecrow reveals himself in an attempt to retrieve it and frightens Cheswick, who runs to Grisham's two thugs for help. They corner Scarecrow in the old house, where he discovers a magic feather and a message left to him by Ms.Bee Bee, which tells him that the feather (when worn) will turn him human, but that "real life" will never be his until he is willing to give that life for another. Scarecrow dons the feather and easily fools Grisham's thugs into believing he is merely a traveler named Feathertop, and they leave, though Cheswick is not convinced. Meanwhile, Polly returns to the garden to find her money gone, and weeps in despair. The next morning, Grisham comes up with a plan to ensnare Polly with his "love spell dance" to make her his by holding a dance contest, with 52 pieces of silver (the exact amount she needs) as the prize. Feathertop shows off his dancing skills to a crowd in the town square, which prompts Polly to ask him to teach her and be her partner at the dance. During her lesson, the two share a romantic dance and begin to fall in love, until Grisham interrupts to ask Polly to be his partner. He is angry to learn that she already has a partner, and on the night of the contest sends his thugs to trap Feathertop so he cannot attend. Feathertop escapes the thugs and he and Polly win the contest. Feathertop gives all the money to Polly, and the two confess their love for each other, and plan to marry the next morning. Grisham confronts Feathertop, discovering his true identity. He ties Scarecrow up in the same field and steals his feather, which transforms him into Feathertop upon wearing it, hoping to trick Polly into marrying him, but Bristles and Max manage to remove the feather off of him just before he enters the Church. Grisham tries to force her to marry him, but she, and the priest, refuse to go along with it. Scarecrow manages to escape, and retrieves his feather thanks to Max, but decides to leave Polly because he knows he can never truly be with her. Polly is still waiting for him at the church when Grisham angrily tells his manservant Woody that he intends to kill Polly for rejecting him, but Woody abandons him to warn Polly. Bristles, who was eavesdropping, flies off to warn Feathertop. Polly and the children attempt to escape town in Grisham's carriage, but the only way out is across a bridge over a gorge that Grisham ordered his thugs to weaken. Feathertop arrives and climbs under to hold the supports together until Polly and the children are safely across. Grisham tries to intervene, and in the struggle falls to his death. Feathertop manages to hold the bridge together long enough for the carriage to cross, then falls into the gorge as it collapses. Max and Bristles search the rubble and find him apparently dead, but are overjoyed to see him alive, and they climb out of the gorge together. Polly is waiting at the top, and joyfully embraces Feathertop, who tries to explain why they can't be together, only to realize that his feather fell out of his hat when he climbed out of the gorge, meaning he is now human permanently. He and Polly kiss, and the town celebrates Grisham's demise by cleaning up and holding a large dance in the town square and renaming the town Swingtown, while Ms. Bee Bee brings a girl broom to life for Bristles, and closes the film by addressing the audience the same way she did at the beginning. Voice cast *Matthew McConaughey as The Scarecrow/Feathertop *Catherine Zeta-Jones as Polly *Val Kilmer as Grisham *Kathy Najimy as Miss Bee Bee *David Spade as Max *Martin Landau as Wooden *Billy West as Cheswick *Ryan O'Donohue as Cooper *Scotty Leavenworth as Farley *Debi Derryberry as Gretchen *Gregg Berger as the Magistrate *Mary Kay Bergman as the Maid *Bob Bergen as Bristle *Chris Sanders as Gumshoe Additional Voices *Stephen J. Anderson *Bob Bergen *Mary Kay Bergman *Rodger Bumpass *Robert Clotworthy *Jennifer Darling *Patti Deutsch *Corey Feldman *John Fiedler *Jess Harnell *Sherry Lynn *Danny Mann *Mickie McGowan *Patrick Pinney *Phil Proctor *Kevin Michael Richardson *André Sogliuzzo *Kath Soucie *Andre Stojka *B.J. Ward *Joe Whyte External links * Category:2000 films Category:2000 animated films Category:2000s American animated films Category:2000s fantasy films Category:2000s musical films Category:American films Category:American animated fantasy films Category:Animated musical films Category:Adaptations of works by Nathaniel Hawthorne Category:Films directed by Richard Rich Category:Warner Bros. direct-to-video animated films Category:Canadian films Category:Canadian animated fantasy films Category:Silver Pictures films Category:Lightstorm Entertainment films Category:Films produced by James Cameron Category:Films produced by Jon Landau Category:Films produced by Dino De Laurentiis Category:Films produced by Martha De Laurentiis Category:Films produced by Joel Silver Category:Films produced by Gale Anne Hurd Category:Films with screenplays by James Cameron Category:Films with screenplays by Roger Allers Category:Films with screenplays by Philip LaZebnik Category:Films with screenplays by Chris Sanders Category:Film scores by John Debney Category:Film scores by Kenneth Burgomaster Category:Film scores by Shirley Walker Category:Film scores by John Van Tongeren Category:Film scores by Nick Glennie-Smith Category:Film scores by Gordon Goodwin Category:Musicals by Carole Bayer Sager and Melissa Manchester Category:Warner Bros. Family Entertainment films